Digital Commons Network^™

Analysis Of An Oscillating Plate Coupled With Fluid, Michael J. Nash

Engineering

The mechanical vibration of an oscillating cantilever plate is studied to determine the interaction of a plate coupled with air and with water. Experimental data was collected and analyzed using multiple methods including Fast Fourier Transform, wavelet analysis, and the Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT) to characterize the behavior of the plate. The HHT is able to process nonlinear and nonstationary signals and provides more meaningful information compared to the traditionally used Fourier transform for similar applications. The HHT was found to be appropriate and more descriptive for the analysis of coupled fluid-structure systems. Digital Particle Image Velocimetry (DPIV) was also used …

Investigating The Effects Of Land Use On Small Mammal Populations, Emily Vincent

Student Research

Introduction
The DePauw Nature Park is an excellent site to study the effects of land use on ecosystems. The recent construction of a small farm and the recent restoration of farmland into a prairie provide sites to study how changes in land use affect ecosystems. We studied the effects of land use changes on small mammal communities at the campus farm, an old field next to the campus farm, and a restored prairie.

Hypotheses
We hypothesized that the abundance and diversity of small mammals would be highest in the restored prairie and lowest in the campus farm.

Methods
We used …

Habitat Associations, Distribution, And Abundance Of Smith's Longspur (Calcarius Pictus), An Uncommon Species Of Concern In The Brooks Range, Alaska, Teri Corvus Wild

Biological Sciences

Smith's Longspur (Calcarius pictus) is a species of conservation concern in the U.S. and Canada, yet few studies have been conducted on their breeding grounds in the Arctic, which are expected to undergo dramatic changes due to climate change. For effective conservation, we need information on breeding distribution and abundance; thus I conducted surveys for Smith's Longspur and habitat characteristics across a broad geographic range that included twelve sites within Alaska's Brooks Range, June 2003-2009. My main objectives were to (1) locate breeding populations (2) describe habitats at local and broader geographic scales, (3) develop a predictive distribution map based …

Using The Generalized Interpolation Material Point Method For Fluid-Solid Interactions Induced By Surface Tension, Liangbiao Chen, N/A 陈 良彪

Engineering

This thesis is devoted to the development of new, Generalized Interpolation Material Point Method (GIMP)-based algorithms for handling surface tension and contact (wetting) in fluid-solid interaction (FSI) problems at small scales. In these problems, surface tension becomes so dominant that its influence on both fluids and solids must be considered. Since analytical solutions for most engineering problems are usually unavailable, numerical methods are needed to describe and predict complicated time-dependent states in the solid and fluid involved due to surface tension effects. Traditional computational methods for handling fluid-solid interactions may not be effective due to their weakness in solving large-deformation …

Variation Found In Rates Of Restraint And Seclusion Among Students With A Disability, Douglas J. Gagnon, Marybeth J. Mattingly, Vincent J. Connelly

Carsey Publications

The restraint and seclusion of individuals—practices usually associated with highly restrictive environments—are extreme responses to student behavior used in some public schools. In this brief, authors Douglas Gagnon, Marybeth Mattingly, and Vincent Connelly report that restraint and seclusion are used much more frequently on students with a disability than on students without a disability. In addition, the majority of U.S. school districts does not restrain or seclude students with a disability; 59.3 percent of districts report no instances of restraint, while 82.5 percent do not report a single instance of seclusion. However, a small proportion of districts report exceedingly high …

Seasonal Movement Patterns And Habitat Occupancy Of Kotzebue Region Inconnu, Nicholas J. Smith

Fisheries

Inconnu Stenodus leucichthys are large, long-lived piscivorous whitefish harvested in subsistence and sport fisheries in Alaska. My study was conducted to describe the seasonal movements and habitat occupancy of inconnu in the Selawik and Kobuk River drainages, Alaska, from 2010 through 2012. Methods consisted of surgically implanting acoustic telemetry tags in 80 fish from both rivers in 2010 and 2011 (n = 320), and deploying a fixed array of 20 Vemco VR2W acoustic receiving stations affixed with archival tags throughout Selawik Lake and Hotham Inlet. Tagged inconnu detections revealed that Selawik and Kobuk River inconnu displayed a high degree of …

Tattoo Stigma And Job Discrimination, Phil Drazewski

Theses and Dissertations

Recent research (Madera & Hebl, 2011) has found that visible stigmas can lead to discrimination against stigmatized individuals in the form of lower job applicant ratings. Tattooed individuals may be one group that faces such discrimination. People with tattoos are perceived less positively than non-tattooed people (Martin & Dula, 2010; Resenhoeft, Villa, & Wiseman, 2008), which may be the result of a tattoo stigma. Pryor & Reeder (2011) suggested that one hallmark of stigmas is that they evoke implicit negative attitudes. In a pilot study, participants implicitly and explicitly evaluated tattooed and non-tattooed individuals, and a tattoo stigma was supported. …

Evaluating Quality Improvement To Improve Hiv Reporting, Nandi A. Marshall, William C. Livingood, Angela Peden, Gulzar H. Shah, Russ Toal, Dayna Alexander, Alesha Wright, Sandra Jump, Shelby Freeman, Kay Davis, Lynn Woodhouse, Kellie Penix

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

The incorporation and evaluation of Quality Improvement into Georgia’s public health systems continues to be a focus of the Georgia Public Health Practice Based Research Network. This report describes the process, preliminary results and lessons learned from incorporating Quality Improvement into one of Georgia’s public health districts.

Evidence Use In New York City Public Health Policymaking, Miriam J. Laugesen, Kimberley R. Isett

Frontiers in Public Health Services and Systems Research

New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg has attracted national attention for his public health policy reforms. The policy process behind the reform program has received less scrutiny, especially the use of research by policymakers. We show that the process used to develop, promote, and evaluate polices is heavily based on five types of data and research. New York Department of Health and Mental Hygiene staff conducted in-depth appraisals of existing published research, used local health surveys and private laboratory surveillance data, engaged in “shoe-leather” field research, formed research collaborations within and outside government, and disseminated research to legitimize policy …

Book Reviews, Human Biology Editors

Human Biology

Reconstruction of Life from the Skeleton. Edited by Mehmet Yasar Iscan and Kenneth A.R. Kennedy. 315 pp. A.R. Liss, Inc., New York, 1989. $49.50. (Reviewd by Marc S. Micozzi, National Museum of Health and Medicine)

The Foundations of Human Genetics, By Krishna R. Dronamraju. 211 pp. Charles C. Thomas, Springfield, Illinois, 1989. $40.75. (Reviewed by Dennis O.Rourke, University of Utah)

The Fabric of Mind. By Richard Bergland. 202 pp. Penguin Books Australia, Victoria, Australia, 1985 (reprinted 1988). $9.95 (paper). (Reviewed by Ted A. Rathbun, University of South Carolina)

The Colonization of the Pacific: A Genetic Trail Research Monographs …

Diversity Of Cultivable Bacteria Involved In The Formation Of Macroscopic Microbial Colonies (Cave Silver) On The Walls Of A Cave In Slovenia, Blagajana Herzog Velikonja, Rok Tkavc, Lejla Pašić

International Journal of Speleology

Karstic caves often support white, yellow, grey or pink microbial colonies that are termed ‘cave silver’ by speleologists. Using various sample pre-treatments and culture media, a wide variety of bacteria associated with these colonies were recovered from a cave in Slovenia, Pajsarjeva jama. Decreasing the inoculum size resulted in significant increases in viable counts, while pre-treatments had the opposite effect with the exception of microwave irradiation. While all growth media yielded viable counts, the maximal counts were observed on a low-nutrient TWA medium.

Based on the 16S rRNA gene sequence of OTU representatives, the majority of the 80 isolates examined …

Gsu View, 2013-12-16, Office Of Marketing And Communications

GSU View

Newsletter published by Governors State University 2007-current.

Phospholipase D- And Phosphatidic Acid-Mediated Signaling In Plant Response To Abscisic Acid And Reactive Oxygen Species, Liang Guo

Dissertations

The Arabidopsis genome has 12 phospholipase D (PLD) genes that are classified into six types, PLDα, PLDβ, PLDγ, PLDδ, PLDε, and PLDζ, based on sequence similarities, domain structures, and biochemical properties. Phosphatidic acids (PA) produced by PLDs have been identified as important lipid signaling molecules in cell growth, development, and stress responses. This study was undertaken to determine the role of PLD and PA in plant response to abscisic acid (ABA) and reactive oxygen species (ROS). The lipid mediator PA was found to interact with sphingosine kinases (SPHKs) in Arabidopsis. Two unique SPHK cDNAs were cloned and expressed. Both SPHKs …

Dog Behavior Co-Varies With Height, Bodyweight And Skull Shape, Paul D. Mcgreevy, Dana Georgevsky, Johanna Carrasco, Michael Valenzuela, Deborah L. Duffy, James A. Serpell

Eidonomy Collection

Dogs offer unique opportunities to study correlations between morphology and behavior because skull shapes and body shape are so diverse among breeds. Several studies have shown relationships between canine cephalic index (CI: the ratio of skull width to skull length) and neural architecture. Data on the CI of adult, show-quality dogs (six males and six females) were sourced in Australia along with existing data on the breeds’ height, bodyweight and related to data on 36 behavioral traits of companion dogs (n = 8,301) of various common breeds (n = 49) collected internationally using the Canine Behavioral Assessment and Research Questionnaire …

Using Strengths-Based Leadership To Improve The Child Welfare System, Kimberly M. Giardina

Journal of Family Strengths

The child welfare system has primarily focused on the safety of children even though the goals of the system are to improve safety, well-being, and permanency. Through an innovative use of strengths-based leadership and the restructuring of service delivery, the Neighborhoods for Kids program has demonstrated how to effectively achieve all three goals for children in the child welfare system. The unique infusion of strengths-based leadership into the child welfare system allowed staff to creatively meet the outcomes without any additional funding needed. The goal was to strengthen the leadership in East Region and increase staff engagement, which would in …

When Investing In Human Capital Is Not Enough: Economic Pain In Europe, Michael Hemesath

Administration Publications

No abstract provided.

School Teachers. Performance-Based Layoffs. Dismissals. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Requires school districts to use a classroom teacher's performance ratings, rather than seniority, to determine layoffs. Requires districts to conduct specified evaluations of each teacher's performance annually. Requires these annual evaluations to measure teacher performance by, at a minimum, student academic progress, classroom observations and instructional practices, parent and student feedback, and teacher partnerships with community members and organizations. Provides that teachers convicted of certain violent, serious, or sexual felonies are to be automatically dismissed and permanently barred from employment as a teacher in the state. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on …

School Teachers. Performance-Based Layoffs. Dismissals. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Requires school districts to use a classroom teacher's performance ratings, rather than seniority, to determine layoffs. Requires districts to conduct specified evaluations of each teacher's performance annually. Requires these annual evaluations to measure teacher performance by, at a minimum, student academic progress, classroom observations and instructional practices, parent and student feedback, and teacher partnerships with community members and organizations. Provides that teachers convicted of certain violent, serious, or sexual felonies are to be automatically dismissed and permanently barred from employment as a teacher in the state. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact on …

The Cult Of Salomé: Decapitation Imagery And Cultural Anxiety In Belle Époque Europe., Sean C. Hall

Master of Liberal Studies Theses

The Belle Époque in Europe marked a time of great change. Many of the old, yet longstanding traditions were being challenged and modernity really took hold of society at that time. The changes in the social fabric with issues such as the roles of women were common topics of conversation. Women demanded new rights and began to even question the role of masculinity in this new age. This was the emergence of the “New Woman,” and with all of these great changes came great anxiety. This cultural anxiety felt by many was expressed in the arts of the period which …

2013 Fall Engr333 Project Final Report, 2013 Fall Engr333

ENGR 333

During the fall of 2013, the Engineering 333 class was asked the question, “what would it take for Calvin College to operate a biofuel vehicle from campus resources?” The three primary considerations included:

• Determining the optimal biofuel feedstock in terms of availability, transportation, and processing.
• Selecting a biofuel vehicle for conversion or purchase to operate on the selected feedstock.
• Designing the infrastructure and process required for operating the selected biofuel vehicle. The design and research described below proposes an environmentally sustainable and cost-effective method for integrating a biofuel vehicle into Calvin’s existing infrastructure.

Faith And Doubt As Partners In Mormon History, Gregory A. Prince

Arrington Annual Lecture

No abstract provided.

Parallel Implementation Of Moving Averages On Rmesh, John Jenq

Department of Computer Science Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Moving averages are important financial indicators. There are short term moving average and long term moving averages. The interaction of the short term moving averages and long term averages give analyst the good clues about the direction of future assets performance. In this paper, the computation of two popular moving averages are discussed. The n-day simple moving average treats all past n days' closing prices equally while the n-day exponential moving average assigns more weight to most recent day and least weight to lease recent day closing price when form the computation formula. Both methods can be done in O(logN) …

An Innovative Collective Parent Engagement Model For Families And Neighborhoods In Arrival Cities, Tania Alameda-Lawson, Michael A. Lawson, Hal A. Lawson

Journal of Family Strengths

Arrival Cities are special urban places. Amid the largest migration in human history, they provide homes for large numbers of mobile, low-income, immigrant families. These families need new human service and child welfare service models. Collective parent engagement (CPE) is one such model. CPE is designed to build on the strengths and meet the needs of immigrant families living in Arrival City neighborhoods. In contrast to interventions focused on individual parents, this CPE model mobilizes groups of parents; and with a dual agenda. CPE develops much-needed “anchoring supports” for mobile, vulnerable families, at the same time that it positions local …

Family Roots: Sustenance For Samoan And Tongan American Elders, Halaevalu F.O. Vakalahi, Emily S. Ihara, Moana P. Hafoka

Journal of Family Strengths

This article discusses the centrality of the family in supporting cultural responsibilities and in the well-being of Samoan and Tongan-American elders. Informed by the Ho’okele model, this grounded theory study was conducted in the State of Hawaii, the port of entry for most Pacific Islander-Americans migrating to the U.S. and the state in which a majority of Samoans and Tongans reside. Qualitative data was collected from 10 Samoan and 10 Tongan elders, and analysis was conducted by immersion in the data and reading for natural emergence of themes, patterns and categories. Cultural foundation of family relationships, expectations of the keepers …

Family-Directed Structural Assessment: Facilitating Strengths-Based Family Assessment And Engagement, Tara Mclendon

Journal of Family Strengths

This article provides a brief overview of the Family-Directed Structural Assessment Tool which is a strengths-based, family-driven assessment tool that has been developed during the last 10 years. A discussion of its application in a therapeutic family camp setting, a traditional outpatient clinic, a residential treatment environment, and a child welfare setting follows. Finally, implications for strengths-based family work and current projects are addressed.

Using State Wide Child And Family Services Review Data To Analyze Policies To Improve Educational Outcomes Of Children In Foster Care, Corie G. Hebert

Journal of Family Strengths

The poor educational outcomes of foster children is recognized as a national problem. The literature is reviewed to define and illustrate the magnitude of the problem. Steps have been taken to improve the problem with passage of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008; it requires states to ensure the educational stability of foster youth. A description of utilizing state level Child and Family Service Review data to analyze a state’s ability to comply with the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 is provided.

Strengths-Based Supervision: Supporting Implementation Of Family-Centered Practice Through Supervisory Processes, Cynthia A. Lietz

Journal of Family Strengths

Strengths-Based Supervision (SBS) is a model of supervision that was developed for child welfare settings. The model integrates several supervisory processes that are conducted with the primary focus of supporting effective implementation of Family-Centered Practice (FCP). The model was developed in one southwestern state in 2008 and has since been adopted by other public child welfare systems and by private, non-profit settings. The purpose of this article is to describe the model and offer implications for practice.

Moving Beyond Lip Service: The Clinical Reasoning Behind Practicing Strengths, Lynn M. Mayer, Barbara P. Early, Aidan H. Bohlander

Journal of Family Strengths

Social work has a long tradition of advocating for practice from the strengths perspective. However, it is unclear whether schools are truly preparing students for strengths based practice or whether they are simply teaching them to use the vocabulary of strengths without the clinical reasoning skills to switch paradigms from deficits to strengths, moving beyond lip service to real strengths-based practice. To explore this issue, data from an exercise in an MSW course was explored using qualitative methodology. The findings support that in addition to using a strengths vocabulary, other components are necessary for true implementation of a strengths approach. …

Commentary On "Family Roots: Sustenance For Samoan And Tongan American Elders", Meripa T. Godinet

Journal of Family Strengths

The article discusses the relevance of family as the foundation of well being for Samoan and Tongan elders. Negotiating dual identities (Samoan American or Tongan American) can be challenging, particularly when contexts of each identity are at odds with one another. This study indicated relevant findings that underscored the role and responsibility of Samoan and Tongan elders in transmitting cultural ways of knowing and doing to current and future generations. The role of families then becomes all the more important as they are key to supporting the health and wellbeing of their elders.

The Familial Union Between Caregivers And The Juvenile Justice System, Joshua T. Baldwin, Wesley Church, Tracy Wharton

Journal of Family Strengths

This research describes an initial exploration of the phenomenon of caregivers’ learning of their child’s detention, an area of exploration that has little previous attention in the literature. This initial exploration was rooted in a desire to gain an understanding of the caregiver’s experience with both their family member (adjudicated juvenile) and the criminal justice system. A qualitative, phenomenological approach was used in this study to gain rich understanding into the lived experiences shared by twelve caregivers of youth being adjudicated in the juvenile justice system. Two overarching themes emerged from the data: 1) the system, with communication, fairness, and …